The Westwood Human Rights Club was inaugurated at its first meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 11 after school. The club was founded by Varshini Loganathan ’24 and is connected with the Austin Local Group, the Amnesty Youth Chapter, and the Texas Amnesty Chapter of Amnesty International, an organization focused on campaigning for human rights improvements worldwide with 10 million members in over 150 countries. 

“The main focus of our club is to educate students about human rights and provide them with opportunities to create change through service,” Loganathan said. 

Within providing service to others, the club aims to work towards long-term solutions rather than short-term replacements. 

“Rather than traditional volunteering, like volunteering at a soup kitchen, our members try to enact long-term change such as through petitions, calls to local government, and writing letters to leaders,” Loganathan said. “However, just like with traditional volunteering, members will get volunteer hours for the hours they spend creating long-term material change for people around the world.” 

With this goal in mind, the Human Rights Club is open to focusing on a diverse range of issues, from fighting gun violence to helping journalists wrongfully jailed to addressing issues brought up by the pandemic. 

Club initiatives and other events will be determined by the members of the club at each meeting. The club will hold its next meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 1 in chemistry teacher Mr. Phillip Tran’s room, D2303, from 4:30 to 5:30 PM. 

More information and updates can be found on the club’s Linktree.